Effects of the pyrethroid insecticide, cypermethrin, on a freshwater community studied under field conditions: I. Direct and indirect effects on abundance measures of organisms at different trophic levels.

Woin, Per

Department of Ecology, Chemical Ecology and Ecotoxicology, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden.

Abstract [en]

The effects of the pyrethroid insecticide cypermethrin on a natural freshwater community were studied in small in situenclosures over an 11-day period. The experiment was conducted in a eutrophic lake using a regression design thatincluded three untreated controls and a gradient of six unreplicated cypermethrin concentrations, ranging from 0.01 to6.1 mg/l. This paper is the first in a series of two, and describes the fate of cypermethrin and its effects on the abundanceof crustaceans, rotifers, protozoans (cilliates and heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF)) and bacteria and the biomass ofperiphytic and planktonic algae. The concentration of cypermethrin decreased quickly during the experiment, with ahalf-life of 48 h for the total and 25 h for the dissolved fractions of cypermethrin, respectively. Cypermethrin proved tobe acutely toxic to crustaceans in enclosures receiving nominal cypermethrin concentrations of ]/0.13 mg/l. No EffectConcentration (NEC) and median Effect Concentration (EC50) for the total crustacean community and cladoceran andcopepod subgroups ranged between 0.02 /0.07 and 0.04 /0.17 mg/l, respectively, with copepods being less sensitive thancladocerans. The abundance of rotifers, protozoans and bacteria and the chlorophyll-a concentration of planktonic andperiphytic algae was significantly related to the concentration of cypermethrin. All groups proliferated within 2 /7 daysafter the cypermethrin application in those enclosures where the abundance of crustaceans was seriously affected bycypermethrin (i.e. ]/0.13 mg/l). We hypothesise that the proliferation of rotifers, protozoans, bacteria and algae was dueto a reduced grazer control from crustaceans and thereby mediated indirectly by cypermethrin. The results of thisexperiment provide knowledge on how an entire microplankton community may respond to pyrethroids in nature, andthe indirect effects observed on the community clearly demonstrates the necessity of multispecies field experiments inecotoxicological risk assessment